Cosplay and cosplayers – what is that? A Complete Guide

Have you ever seen groups of people wearing costumes of characters that you usually only see in video games and movies? Or maybe you have seen photos of them while scrolling one day through Facebook or Tumblr?

These guys and gals are probably not just trying out their Halloween costumes couple of months before the scary event. They are cosplayers – people whose hobby (and in some cases even work!) is to dress up as their favorite superheroes, anime characters, and more.

Straight Outta Japan

The origin of the term cosplay is more than weird. It is said, that it was coined in Japan, where it is written コスプレ – kosupure. At the same time, however, this Japanese name is based on a specific pronunciation of two English words: costume and play. Costume play. (You can find more about the etymology of the word on Wikipedia.)

Cosplay is about having fun, but it is also about trying to achieve perfection of the costume. It is about creating the outfit as similar to the original (from a movie, from a game, from an anime) as possible. It is as much about the overall look, as it is about the small details – having the exact hairstyle as the cosplayed character, having the same necklaces, shoelaces, and more.

Become a Cosplayer

it is said that not every hero wears a cape. It is similar when it comes to cosplay – not every person who wears some kind of costume is automatically a cosplayer. Wearing some Halloween outfit does not make you a cosplayer. Wearing Borat underpants for some crazy Friday night does not make you a cosplayer.

So what makes you one? Joining the subculture and putting all your heart in preparing the outfit. Some people believe that a true cosplayer is a person that creates everything from the scratch: sewing the pants, creating an armor, dyeing your hair, sometimes even forging your own sword.

But let’s not be that hardcore and orthodox. It is nothing bad if you buy some stuff from a store to make your way to creating the outfit easier. Grab those cheap shoes from Walmart, go to a thrift shop to pick up all the rest. And if you want – even let yourself to look up the online stores if they offer something that may be interesting and useful to you.

We, at Cosplay87.com, believe that anyone can become a cosplayer. The only thing one needs to start their journey in this fantastic world is to find fun in completing the outfit, and later walking in it around the local cosplay events.

Our main aim is to help the beginners in preparing the first costumes. We surf the internet in order to find the best items of the cosplay world – from the complete outfits to the smallest, most important details of a character’s look.

We explore the worlds of your favorite video games, movies, and animations. We provide lists of the most important items to start your cosplay journey and we are dedicated to continuing this until all of our readers are satisfied.